I have a floorplan that puts a bathroom directly above a dining room, and am concerned about the noise from flushing toilets/water in pipes being heard in the dining room below. The joists over the dining room are 2X10s, and this ceiling is new, unfinished at this time. I have seen soundproofing drywall called QuietRock, but can’t find a source for it in our remote location (northern MN), so am considering my options. What would be the best method of isolating the noise?
Shawn
Replies
Use cast iron instead of pvc for waste lines. Way quiter.
There is also sound attenuation blanket, like dense mineral wool fiber or dense f/g that can be placed around the waste pipes and in the joist bay. After that you could strap the ceiling below with resilient channel and decouple the drywall hang from the joist.
There is also a dense vinyl blanket that can be wrapped around the pipe and/or used above the drywall. It is pricey and very heavey to hang in a vertical install, much less an overhead horizontal application.
FHB or JLC did an article on sound proofing a few years ago. You might do a search of both web sites for it.
Myron Ferguson wrote a great article on soundproofing. If you’re a FineHomebuilding.com subscriber, check it out.
Good luck on your project,
Robyn Aitken
BT Mod
Another vote for cast iron. Use 5/8" GWB for the ceiling - 2 layers if you have the room to spare.
Sorry, what is GWB??Shawn
gypsum wall board
Architect here. I agree with the other posts on the cast iron, double layers of drywall and wrapping the pipe as well.
Had a similar problem and the combination of all of the above worked very well. Pack any voids the pipe runs through with the sound attenuation batts (fancy name for the unfaced pink stuff).
You're trying to control the resonance of the sound and that can be tough.
ciao, ted
How ya been Ted
Lou C
Doing fine, or bu$y, as my son would say. Actually picking up from my end. Thanks for asking. And yourself?
What was the outcome of that office layout we discussed a while back? For whatever reason it keeps popping into my head. I enjoy challenges like that and they tend to linger with me.
ciao, ted "You can have it fast, good or cheap. You can only have two of the three. Fast and good, it won't be cheap. Good and cheap, it won't be fast. Fast and cheap, it won't be good. Now, what's your choice?"
Ted, The Architect just finished the prints and now they are in the engineer firms hands as we speek. Major hold-up, but its good cause I picked up 3 finished basements in the mean time all rick next to one and other. Sweet!!
I'll send over the drafts if you want to take a look.
Thanks again for the help, Lou
The best, most cost effective thing is to use strapping on the bottom of the floor joists before rocking it, and stuff the space with dense FG insulation.
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Fiberglass insulation or foam is useless for sound proofing. What I do is suspend pieces of drywall between the joist. Cut lengths of drywall that fit between the joist, then place nails to the sides of the joists to (DW just rest on the nails, not nailed into the DW) hold it just below the drain pipes. Two layers not touching the ceiling or pipe will pass any sound test. Another way is to install the ceiling drywall, lay fiberglass on the ceiling dw, then lay scrap drywall on top of that.
Last time when we tested it for sound, we had the helper go upstairs to flush. We kept yelling for him to flush. We heard nothing so we went upstairs to see what happened to him. He said he did flush it.
If you have room, you need to do this to the vertical pipe too.
If you can afford it the high density vinyl blankets with a fiber glass mat sandwich in it is really good. Just wrap the pipe with one layer, staple and tape the seam, then make sure the hangers are outside the wrap.
We outfitted an elevator equipment room with it several years ago. The equipment room was right next to a large assembly room were a lot of meetings take place. The stuff was amazing. We draped blankets on the walls, and covered the hydraulic pump housing with it. Where before you could hear any of the three pumps start and run when an elevator moved, you couldn't hear a thing when we finished. The only drawback to using the hd vinyl is the weight. The stuff is a real bear to hang vertically. Even narrow strips of it applied to the lines running overhead took two men to get in place.
Edited 10/31/2008 6:16 am ET by DaveRicheson
I'd like to believe this, but I just read the FH article on soundproofing by Myron Ferguson (Dec 2006)- He continually emphasized that the soundproofing must be airtight, so how can your method of loose-fitting pieces of DW between the joists work? Shawn
"I'd like to believe this, but I just read the FH article on soundproofing by Myron Ferguson (Dec 2006)- He continually emphasized that the soundproofing must be airtight, so how can your method of loose-fitting pieces of DW between the joists work?
Shawn"
Sound reduction is done by blocking or absorption, un attached drywall does both. When you hear sound from an adjacent wall, its the studs that directly connect the two walls that conducts the sound.
RC channel and staggered stud walls are the most common design method for reducing sound transmission. In theory my method is similar. Sound will go around the edges of the pieces of drywall, 90% is absorbed by the board, not redirected thru the gaps. My method has been proved to me, cheaper than cheap and easy to do.
Myron Ferguson is more qualified than me. My express ideas here are different than most. I rely on my common sense. A lot of methods here are done by tradition, it helps more to understand the theory and learn from other mistakes.
Cut up all you drywall scraps and fill the voids around the pipe.
Sound deadening, thermal mass and saves landfill space.
;-)